Free And Then I Found You by Patti Callahan Henry Page A

a combination of opposites that made an animal-like sound.
    Sunglasses covered the policeman’s eyes, but his smirk told her that he didn’t believe
     she was sober. “Will you please get out of the car?”
    Katie opened the door and stepped out. The winter chill swept over her.
    “I need you to walk a straight line, toe to toe.” The cop explained in slow words
     as if speaking to a toddler.
    “Seriously?” Katie asked. “You think I’ve been drinking? It’s noon.”
    “Just do it.”
    Her feet firmly planted, she placed one foot in front of the other and then did a
     cartwheel, landing on the same line. High school cheerleading finally became resourceful.
     She twirled around and bowed to the cop.
    He shook his head, but the hint of a smile pulled on the corners of his mouth. “That’s
     not what I asked you to do.”
    “I’m sorry, Sir. I’m trying to prove a point.”
    “Okay, then. Why are you parked in the emergency lane? Are you in trouble?”
    “I needed to cry. I don’t usually need to cry and so I thought it best if I wasn’t
     operating heavy machinery while I did so.” She smiled at the policeman.
    He nodded and took off his sunglasses. “You okay to drive now?”
    “Yes, I think I am.”
    Katie returned to the car. The cop walked with her and placed his hands on the roof,
     staring into her driver’s-side window as she started the engine. “Are you really okay?
     If you’re not, you can take a little time here. I’ll park behind you.”
    “Thanks, but I really do think I’m good for now.”
    He nodded. “I hope that whatever made you cry gets better soon.”
    “It won’t,” she said. “But I’ll be okay.”
    Katie rolled up the window, put the shift into drive. “I’ll be okay,” she repeated
     to herself, but the words fell hollow into the empty car.
    *   *   *
    “Are you okay?” Jack asked. He greeted her without hello, preamble, or hug.
    He stood on his front doorstep, the shadow on his face from more than the setting
     sun. She wanted to touch him, to wrap her body around his until they both found peace,
     until they could be together for good and all. No one moved her this way. And she
     knew no one ever would.
    “No, really, I’m not okay. I need to talk to you. I promise it won’t take long.”
    She’d called to tell him she was coming, and yet he stared at her as if she’d shown
     up unannounced. “Come in,” he finally said. Together they walked into his house, and
     then to the living room she hadn’t seen since that night.
    “Sit down, please. I can’t stand up and tell you this,” Katie said. She glanced around
     the room. Only one wall had been painted. Closed paint cans were piled in the corner
     waiting to be used again. A hole gaped open on the top right corner of the ceiling
     where she could see into the attic. Everything was half-finished, almost done.
    But only almost.
    “Okay.” He sat and they faced each other on opposite ends of the couch.
    “We.” She took in a breath that shook with fear and truth. “You and me. We’re pregnant.”
    Emotions she was never able to label worked their way across his face. Like fast-action
     photography it was morning and then noon and then twilight and then darkest night
     and then morning again. It ended in agony.
    She fell into him. “I’m sorry,” she said into his chest.
    He pulled her back. “My God,” he said.
    “I know, Jack. I know. I’m not asking for anything and I don’t expect you to run away
     with me. You don’t have to say it. But I needed to tell you. It’s not a secret thing
     I could keep from you.”
    “Oh, Katie.” He dropped his face.
    Sunlight filled the living room as if it had been poured on the couch and floors;
     the aroma of coffee filled the lightness, thrusting its smell into Katie’s nostrils.
     “I think I’m going to throw up,” Katie said, closing her eyes.
    He touched her back, gently, tentative.
    “I’m sorry. It’s the coffee smell—all my